Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg is headed to the NHL All-Star Game after leading the Preds this season in goals, assists and points.

-- Photo By Richard W. Rodriguez | Ap

With football time in Tennessee winding down for at least a few months, the attention span of many Midstate sports fans reopens to what’s happening on the ice at Bridgestone Arena.

As the Nashville Predators hit the midway point of the 2023-24 season, they are holding their own in the standings in a season that many thought might be a down one. Last offseason was one of significant changes in Smashville, starting at the top of the organization.

David Poile, who had been the general manager since the team entered the league in the 1998-99 season, retired at the end of last season. He has the most regular season wins of any general manager in NHL history. Poile had a familiar face succeed him in the general manager’s chair as Barry Trotz, the team’s inaugural head coach, took over officially July 1. Trotz had worked closely with Poile last season in preparation for the transition and participated in all of the decisions that were made for the organization.

Trotz elected to move on from previous coach John Hynes in favor of Andrew Brunette, an original Predator in the team’s inaugural season. Brunette also holds the honor of scoring the first goal in team history.

Trotz also jettisoned a couple of veteran forwards in the offseason, trading Ryan Johansen to the Colorado Avalanche and buying out the contract of Matt Duchene. Those moves did not come without cost, as the Predators are covering half of Johansen’s salary for this season and next. Duchene’s buyout will come with a salary cap hit through the 2028-29 season, with the 2024-25 ($5.5 million) and 2025-26 ($6.5 million) seasons being the largest.

The Predators signed veteran forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist in the offseason, and together with Filip Forsberg, have had a strong season on the team’s top forward line. O’Reilly was a familiar face as an opponent, having spent significant time with Central Division rival St. Louis Blues, and winning the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019.

In addition to the veteran additions, Trotz wanted to make room on the roster for some of the younger players in the organization, many of whom were integral in the team’s near miss of a playoff spot last year with many veterans sidelined due to injury. Tommy Novak, Luke Evangelista, and Juuso Parssinen among others have been given opportunities this season earned through strong play last season.

Nashville struggled out of the gate this season, going just 5-10-0 in the first 15 games. A six-game winning streak – a heater in hockey terms – from mid through late November turned the Predators around, placing them into the conversation as a potential playoff contender, which few thought possible entering the season. The Predators haven’t lost more than two consecutive games in regulation since, piling up standings points in the process.

Winnipeg, Colorado and Dallas have been atop the Central Division all season, and it will take consistently strong play for the Predators to catch and surpass any of those three teams and earn one of the playoff berths that accompany a top-three finish in the division.

Realistically, the Predators will be battling with several other Western Conference teams for the two wild card playoff spots. Nashville sits in the top wild card position, but with the Blues, Edmonton Oilers and Seattle Kraken within striking distance.

With half of the season remaining, the Predators will need to find some consistent secondary scoring from forwards outside of the top line of Nyquist-O’Reilly-Forsberg. Starting goaltender Juuse Saros has had an up and down season.

Like the team as a whole, he struggled early in the season, but then went on to win 6 consecutive decisions between Dec. 3 – 16. Saros is sporting a .901 save percentage this season, far below his career average of .918. The Predators’ penalty kill has also struggled for most of the season and sit in the bottom third of the league in penalty kill percentage.

And finally, for a team with little margin for falling either in or out of the playoff conversation, staying healthy will be a necessity. The team has been reasonably healthy to this point in the season, so maintaining that good fortune will go a long way in their desire to return to the NHL’s postseason.